


First Steps

by metacrisis_chook



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alphonse misses his mum, Alphonse needs his Royai parents too!, Feel-good, First Steps, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood - Freeform, Gen, Moms Made Fullmetal 2020, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Parental Riza Hawkeye, Promised Day spoilers, Sad and Happy, Tearjerker, hopefully, this one made the author emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24395257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/metacrisis_chook/pseuds/metacrisis_chook
Summary: Alphonse remembers what it was like to hold his mother's hand.A belated upload for Moms Made Fullmetal Week 2020 Day 2: First Steps.
Relationships: Alphonse Elric & Riza Hawkeye, Alphonse Elric & Trisha Elric
Comments: 9
Kudos: 50
Collections: Moms Made Fullmetal Week 2020





	First Steps

**Author's Note:**

> My first time joining a fandom event! Very happy that I put something up ^^ Not sure if it'll still count for the challenge since I'm late in posting on AO3, but it had been duly posted on [Tumblr!](https://the-royai-household.tumblr.com/post/619143935078645760/first-steps) Also, spoilers, if you haven't finished watching the show.

Al still remembered, though he could no longer feel, what it had been like to hold his mother’s hand. **  
**

They said he was a late bloomer, when it had come to walking. He couldn’t recall so far into his past, of course, but he had heard enough from Granny, as well as from the neighbors who knew his family well back in Resembool. Even Edward claimed to have recollections about it, though Alphonse had his doubts in this regard, as he and his brother had been born only a year apart from each other. But they all attested to the fact that Al had taken quite a while to learn to stand up and walk. He could almost picture his mother worrying about him, all the days she must have spent holding him up by his little hands, gently encouraging him to trust his own weight on his feet. Until the day he must have finally braved it, and propelled himself forward, but never letting go of her, his tiny fingers wrapped tightly around her own. They had always been steady, always warm. He knew this, because he had almost never walked beside Trisha without holding her hand if he could help it, and he remembered the warmth even though he couldn’t feel it anymore.

His entire existence had suddenly been confined to a suit of armor, and while the metal was very real, on days he couldn’t say the same for himself. Everything passed over and through him like a ghost. Even the armor probably felt the impact of the blows when sparring, the scorching heat of the sun wearing down its surface, and the pelt of the raindrops as they would bounce off it. But not him. On some days, he hardly felt real, with only his torment reminding him of his existence. On some days, with his feet never feeling the ground, just somehow _aware_ of it, he would panic, and he would be two years old all over again, like he had never learned to walk at all, and the ground didn’t exist for him, and his mother’s hands were not there for him to hold on to.

For years, he had become so accustomed to the absence of sensations, that when he opened his eyes on that day, he couldn’t register what was wrong. Faces swam in front of him, and a multitude of voices laced with concern, disbelief, and excitement reached his ears. He fumbled to sit up, feeling tired to his bones, and the realization hit him.

The exhaustion, the dizziness, the touch of wind and grass on his skin.

He could feel.

He held his hands in front of him, still not daring to believe the effort it took him - he could actually _feel_ it - the pull of his muscles, the weight of his arms. Long hair tickled the back of his neck and the tip of his nose. His lips felt dry and cracked, and they hurt keeping up with the change of his expressions, but they broke into a trembling smile nonetheless.

Everyone erupted in cheers.

His gaze found his brother among the din. Edward was beaming at him, and Alphonse could see the telltale signs of tears in his eyes. His own eyes began to sting, but neither of them spoke. No words needed to be said between them.

Hands, big and small, reached out to him from all around, and he welcomed them all; the handshakes, the pats on his back, Hohenheim’s gentle caress on his hair, Mei’s tight hug he barely had the energy to return, Edward’s familiar grip holding him upright. He had missed it all so much, the sensations flooding him, threatening to overwhelm him, but he could not stop himself. All kinds of faces came and went, friends, family, allies, as they took turns to welcome and congratulate him. He saw two more, and they were faces he knew so well, he could see either one and know the other would surely follow.

Riza stepped beside him and crouched, and he returned her radiant smile, as her eyes searched his face. His breath almost stopped when he noticed the abnormal amount of blood on her neck and shoulder, seeping through her turtleneck and jacket, but she seemed fine otherwise - and he shook the dark thoughts away from his head. Now was not the time to be thinking of dreadful things. But he was suddenly hyper aware of the relief that washed over him at seeing the Lieutenant here, perhaps battered and looking more exhausted than he felt himself - but alive.

She draped the long, black coat she had been holding over his frail shoulders before getting up. Al’s mind flashed back to the memory of her doing the same for his brother a lifetime ago, and an indescribable feeling welled up in his chest. He stretched his arms up to her.

Riza blinked, before finally understanding, and took his hands in hers. Her fingers weren’t soft and slender like his mother’s had been, rather a little callused, but they were steady. And they were warm.

Alphonse held onto them tightly, trusting them to hold him steady as he got up. And once again, he felt the ground under his feet, solid and true, as were the hands that held him.

He took his first step forward.

**Author's Note:**

> Was supposed to be a part of a bigger Parental Royai and Elric Brothers project, but that never happened ;-; I previously made a similar oneshot with Ed, [All Things Unspoken](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24012667), but Alphonse needs love too! ♥


End file.
